


A Trip to the Zoo

by Kairi_chan



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, Later on smut?, M/M, Romantic Comedy, slight angst, this is just one big roller coaster ride, zoo au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-30
Updated: 2015-01-25
Packaged: 2018-03-04 10:27:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3064400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kairi_chan/pseuds/Kairi_chan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rei is a clumsy little nerd who decides to go to the zoo.  What he finds is a large run down place with an odd set of employees, one being a hyper-active blonde who has captured his attention.  The zoo is definitely not to his tastes, but for some reason, he keeps coming back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Firstly, sorry for the sucky ass title (not creative at all)  
> Second, this is my first ever fic and I'm nervous as hell for some reason or another,  
> ＜(。_。)＞...so yeah...
> 
> Warning: this fanfic is a long multichapter and is probably going to be kind of crazy; you see, I have this strong tendency to steer way off topic and stuff-I'm working on it. So, the story is going to be a little bit of everything~
> 
> Hope you enjoy, tell me what you think, and let's get this show on the road

Rei had a five-page zoology report due in a week. Studying to become some sort of scientist, he figured this would be a great opportunity to explore a different field from his usual work with chemistry. At first, he was bit excited, as it was a great opportunity to gain more knowledge—something he loved to do. That is, until he discovered he had no idea what to write. 

The boy sat at his desk, baffled on how to start. He continued to stare blankly at the page, with his pencil in hand for what seemed like forever. Rei slapped his hands over his face screaming, “Ah jeez, I don’t know anything!” The teen propped his glasses back up evenly on the bridge of his nose and let out a long, frustrated sigh. How could he, a junior ranked #1 in all exams—far surpassing even his upper classmates—not be able to write a should’ve-been-simple report on animals? Come on Rei! Pull yourself together! He thought, completely failing to effectively boost any of his confidence.

He set off to work, starting different drafts and then throwing them out, muttering it was “no good.” None of the drafts were nearly as perfect as he wanted them to be. The ferocious cycle kept repeating; eraser shavings littered the wooden desk like snow. His eyebrows furrowed in irritation. None of the drafts sounded right; he couldn’t explain it, but something was just…off.

He had no first hand experience with animals really, at least not ones that would be of use to him. It all sounded to…fake? Robotic? He couldn’t place a finger on it, but it just sounded like a rambling textbook but even more boring. He would definitely not hand in a paper like that. Rei groaned and glanced at the clock: 3 AM. Wearily, he gazed at his tyrian-purple trash bin, filled with his crumpled balls of multiple attempts. 

“This is so not beautiful,” he muttered. His vision blurred, eyelids began to feel heavier with every blink.

~~~

Unlike most children, Rei’s parents never took him out to have fun at the zoo, or any playgrounds at that. His parents simply had little time for him; everyone was always focused on work or most likely: his older brother. It’s not that his parents loved him less or anything— his brother was just, special. 

His older brother was considered an absolute prodigy, a genius. Even when they were little, Rei always knew his brother had a real talent for smarts. His brother had participated in numerous science competitions and often got scouted by ivy-league universities by his third year of high school. He even began surpassing his teachers at some point and excelled immensely, and although he was exceptionally smart, he wasn’t just a “geek” either; he was actually very athletic and extremely popular in his year. 

Rei never really minded the lack of attention he received from his parents—he was happy and proud to have such a great brother. Many people often wondered why he never uttered a single complaint about his brother’s large shadow casting over him. He didn’t know why either, it was just the way he was; he didn’t want to be a whiny kid who begged for attention, nor a burden for his family. On the other hand, some people said Rei was like a “carbon copy” of his brother, he didn’t feel like it though, and it’s not like he wanted to either. Rei did look up to his older brother a lot, but still felt it was important to be his own person.

Yes, sometimes, he felt lonely, but he didn’t feel unwanted. He understood how hard his parents and brother worked; whenever his brother came back to visit—which was became more scarce as the years went on—he always put on a smile and brought back some gifts for Rei and patted him on the head saying “work hard, okay?” But behind that smile, Rei could see extreme exhaustion and sometimes it made him feel worried and quite troubled.

Some might also say he should have probably despised his brother, however he was indebted to him. He inspired and pushed Rei into working hard and to do what he wanted. Originally, Rei pursued science to work alongside his brother maybe, but he ended up really loving it. The bespectacled boy progressively developed a strong passion for science and technical things; he guessed it ran in the family.

While Rei may have been as intelligent as his brother, he was very socially awkward and found it hard to socialize with others. As a result, he never really had any close friends; he hung out with his varsity track teammates from time to time, but he considered them mere acquaintances. 

He supposed if he felt lonely that it was his fault that he couldn’t make friends. He saw no point in having friends when he was little, so he never bothered to try. Rei wonders if maybe he made a mistake by letting himself get so absorbed in studies and never building any social skills. He wished he could be more like—

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, a cliff hanger for my first chapter and wowww, I made Rei quite the introvert—sorry~


	2. Chapter 2

Rei awoke with his head lying on his desk, the tip of his pencil jabbing him slightly in the cheek. He lazily lifted himself from the hard wooden desk—the side of his face that he had slept on ached with a dull pain. In a daze, he wiped drool off the corner of his mouth. Sunlight passed through the window casting light warmth on his tired face. He stood up, and yawned while stretching out his cramped back. Still half asleep, the exhausted boy took a few steps forwards and blinked a few times.

Suddenly he was snapped back into reality and let out a panicked gasp. He shook his head fiercely, trying to wake up his brain. He peeked at the clock and screamed. “HUH?! OH MY GOD I’M SO LATE!” He ran over to his dresser to quickly pull on his uniform, almost tripping completely on his face. On the way, he passed a mirror, backed up, and let out another screech. 

He looked like he had been hit with a hurricane or attacked. Rei’s blue hair was tangled in knots, his glasses were crooked, and tons eraser shavings were stuck to his cheek from his desk. He grabbed a comb trying to get everything in order. As much as he would have loved to take his time, like he usually was able to, he was late and refused to ruin his perfect attendance. 

Rei calculated that the train to school took approximately 5 minutes—10 minutes ‘til the cruel late-bell would ring and the next train ride to the school was in about 4 minutes. 4 minutes to get prepared, “Damn, how am I gonna make it?!” He yells in a daze. The teen continued to clumsily fasten his tie and throw his books into his backpack. Rei knows he can’t brush, so he pops a half a can of mints into his mouth—he winces as the strong smell of mint stings his nose. “I’M HEADING OUT!” he screams. 

His mother opens his mouth to say something but Rei rushes out the door, hastily putting on his shoes. He runs like never before, determined to catch the train. Thank god for varsity track—that, and he always jogged to and from the station to practice anyways. It would have been fairly easy for him to run it, even with only 3 minutes on the clock. 3 minutes passed as Rei swiped his card and ran through the metal gates, jumping into the train right on time. The frigid air of the train cooled his now heated body, still panting as he sat down: I made it. As his heart slowed down, he became calm; a sigh of a relief escaped his lips. Yes! I should have enough time to get there on time, he thought happily. Rei took out his phone and checked the time.

Only then, did he realize he had missed a small, yet very important detail: it was Saturday. His eyes widened and he let out a sound of despair—what is this?! He proceeded to repeatedly bang the back of his head on the train window. Stupid, stupid, stupid, he repeated over and over in his head. I can’t believe I did all that, for NOTHING!  


“You have got to be kidding me,” he mumbled under his breath. The blue haired boy kept scolding himself until he became acutely aware that people were giving him a look that told him to stop or they would call the cops to get him some mental care. His face turned red and he slumped in his seat. He stared at his phone screen and frowned, how could I not notice?

“Next stop, Kyoto!” His eyes widened; Kyoto?! How did I? When did it? What?! Kyoto was three towns away; he missed his stop. At this point, Rei just knew this was going to be a catastrophic day. He moaned and leaned back thinking of what he should do. He racked his brain for any solutions and a light popped on; he would go to the zoo. That’s right! Kyoto has one of the most well known zoos in Japan (he was pretty sure)! He let out a maniacal laugh, Rei, you’re genius! Despite what he had thought just a few seconds before hand. 

“Last call for Kyoto!” the husky-voiced ticket collector announced. Shoot! Rei quickly shoved his phone into his pocket and rushed out the train door just in time before it closed shut. God, what am I doing?! Okay, time for a trip to the zoo; that sounded so corny… The cheesy and quite non-intellectual statement made him cringe as he slapped his hands over his face. 

He shook his head and pulled his wits together the best he could. Rei reached up and matted down his now-wild blue hair, trying to pat it down as best he could. As the boy started to walk down the gray platform to the station exit, the wind of the passing train messed up his hair once again. His eyebrows furrowed with annoyance, this is going to be a dreadful day. He let out another sigh for the hundredth time that morning and reached the exit. 

When he stepped out of the station door, he was greeted by throngs of people from all over. He was amazed yet slightly nervous; he never really could get used to being in large crowds, they were often very overwhelming to him. To every invitation received, he would reply that he had something to do or wasn’t feeling well. His excuses were obviously lies, but they did work; after awhile the invitations stopped coming, leaving him slightly relieved. 

Rei knew this isn’t how “normal” high-schoolers are supposed to act, but he didn’t particularly care for things so trivial. Now, he could study more and do what he intended to do and fulfill his dream of becoming a scientist. His parents didn’t seem to show any concern either—they figured he was just a “late-bloomer” and that there was nothing to worry about. That is, until his 3rd year in middle school when they noticed he was still by himself. 

~~~

“Rei don’t you want to hang out with anyone today?” Rei simply looked up from his book with a confused look on his face.

“No…” he said, looking back down at the open book—another one about quantum physics that he found quite interesting. Rei had thought they would be used to this by now, so why were they even questioning it? His mother and father exchanged quick glance of apprehension. The boy wondered what was bothering them so much, had he disappointed them somehow? That thought caused him to frown a little, trying to think of what he had done wrong.

“Rei…do you feel lonely?” He stared at the two for a minute; they stared back with equal intensity like their lives depended on his answer.

Lonely? He pondered. Am I lonely? Yes, he knew he was always by himself and honestly it didn’t bother him much. Sometimes he imagined having friends and having fun. When everyone had to pair up, he was always a left over and ended up being paired with whoever else had no partner. At lunch, when everyone put their desks together so they could eat with each other, Rei was always alone and ate on his tiny desk-island. Or, on good days he went to eat on the roof—though it wasn’t allowed—he liked to look up at the beautiful serene blue sky while a gentle breeze gave him warmth. 

A majority of Rei’s classmates didn’t talk to him because they hated him, it was just that they found him very unapproachable and frankly, awkward. The quiet boy acknowledged this without any problems, but a few students did hate him. At lunch or afterschool, even sometimes in the halls, he heard occasional whispers. Whispers about how he was a show off with his grades and that he didn’t want to talk to them because he thought they were all stupid or lower than him.

These remarks were rather painful to Rei, as he never once thought that at all. But he had no on to tell this to; he had no friends, not even acquaintances. He couldn’t convey his feelings to anyone, not his classmates, not his parents, no one. The only person he could talk to was himself. Just himself, he was always by himself. 

His mind refocused on a duo of worried faces. He didn’t want to be a burden to his parents like this—he wouldn’t. Rei opened his mouth and said the words they wanted—and needed—to hear, “No, I’m fine.” And that was the honest answer; he was fine being alone. Being alone or teased, it didn’t really matter anyways. 

“That’s good…” the worried wrinkles in their faces relaxed, but only slightly. To his surprise, they didn’t look as relieved as he had expected. Was he not convincing enough? Did they think he was lying? The blue head thought of what to do. Maybe they need more persuasion, he concluded.  


So Rei added, “I’m okay being—“ his comment was suddenly interrupted by loud beeps emitted from his mother’s pocket. 

His mother peered down at her phone and gave him an apologetic smile, “Sorry Rei, we have to get going to your brother’s fair. Let’s go hon.” The woman pushed at her husbands back, hurrying him out the door. “We might get home late, so I cooked some dinner for you! It’s on the table! Heat it up if it get’s cold!”  


“Okay,” Rei said quietly as he heard the door slam and lock with a click. He started to look back down at his book then stopped. A dull ache was starting to arise in his chest; what’s wrong? Silence rang throughout the house as he stared at the empty doorframe. 

Maybe I am lonely after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I'm not sure where I'm going with these flashbacks, but we'll see...  
> also I find it so hilarious and cute how klutzy Rei is ( ^ ω ^ )  
> To everyone who's wondering where the hell is everyone else, don't worry, just be patient


	3. Chapter 3

Oh he was in big trouble now; Rei walked on the sidewalks, bumping elbows with everyone he passed.  
“Hey watch where you’re going!” He had accidentally stepped on the shoe of a fast-paced businesswoman. 

“Oh, sorry!” he exclaimed, flustered and apologetic. The businesswoman shot him a sharp glare, muttering under her breath, “Damned country people…” then walked away angrily. Rei suddenly felt smaller than he did before—he didn’t belong here, did he? He turned back to look at the train station exit; Maybe I should go back… The blue-headed boy stepped forward but then stopped, with determination he turned back around and willed his feet to carry him further into the buzzing city, No. I can do this, he told himself.

Walking to one of the map directories, he noticed many things about the city that he had not seen in Iwatobi. One thing—for sure—is that people in the city weren’t exactly as friendly as the people he knew back home; Iwatobi was pretty tight-knit community, so everyone was always kind to each other for the most part. Another thing was that it was incredibly crowded, and the buildings towered over the crowds like giants. It all seemed larger than life in Rei’s eyes.

The teen briskly walked towards the directory and scanned for the zoo. He only realized he had been towering over someone, when a surprising force hit the bottom of his chin. His bottom jaw clacked his teeth together painfully as a head of blonde hair flash passed his view. Rei clasped his hands over his mouth and groaned.

“OH MY GOD! I’m so sorry!” The blue-headed boy propped his disheveled glasses on the bridge of his nose and looked down, his eyes were met by a small blonde boy bowing repeatedly in apology.

“Uh, it’s fine, really…” Rei tried his best to mask his pain—he did not need another troublesome situation with some stranger. After that icy scowl he had received from the business lady before, he was beginning to grow more and more uncomfortable in the city. Though this one seemed quite nice.

The blonde stopped bowing and gazed up at Rei with a questioning face, “Are you sure?”

He was caught off guard by the small boy’s eyes: they were bright ones that glinted with curiosity and concern, colored with a wonderful hue of magenta that the blue-haired boy had never seen before—“Beautiful…” Rei froze.

“Huh?...” The latter gave him a look of confusion. Instantly the taller boy turned from pale, to bright pink, to deep red in a matter of seconds.

“Uh, u-um I, um, I, y-y-your eyes—IT’S NOTHING!” Rei tripped over his words like a preschooler; so embarrassing. The other continued to stare with the same eyes he had just openly called beautiful, making the boy blush more and more furiously as time went on. If Rei could decide when he would die, he deemed this moment a good time.

He had really done it now. Here he was, trying to get to the damn zoo, but no, he had to big idiot and accidentally compliment some random boy’s eyes who looked like he could still be in middle school. Argh! This has to be the worst day in my life. He probably thinks I’m some weird creep now! Why do I even care, I just need to get to the zoo! Rei opened his mouth to apologize—he didn’t quite know what he was apologizing for exactly, he just felt it was the proper thing to do. But he was interrupted by a large blinding smile that stretched across the smaller’s face. 

“Well thank you very much!” The boy looked like he was about to say something more, when he glanced down at his phone and shouted, “Ah! I really have to go now! Thanks for calling my eyes pretty and sorry for bumping into you!” The blonde began to run off to one of the crosswalks, he turned back and waved at Rei, “Maybe I’ll see you around sometime!”

“I highly doubt that…” Rei said under his breath. He certainly hoped not; he could already picture himself dying from embarrassment.

As if to hear him, the blonde stranger added, “Fate works in mysterious ways!” Once again, the petite boy had succeeded in surprising the blue-haired teen. Rei stared as the other left, getting smaller and smaller until he vanished into the clusters of people. 

Rei sighed, what was that about? An image of the smiling blonde flashed into his head, weird… He shook his head and refocused on what he originally planned to do. He scans the map and finds what he was looking for. The second-year started to mumble calculations of the best routes with the most efficient times, “Yes…I’ll go there…it’ll take at least 15 minutes if I do this…no wait…AH, GOT IT!” The people around were startled as he realized he might have gotten too excited. Rei turned a bright red and walked briskly across the street. 

When he arrived to the bus stop, he sat down on an empty bench to wait. The day had been a complete disaster so far; Rei didn’t want to know what would happen next, no did he want to. Warily, he combed his hands through his blue strewn hair—he could still feel the heat emitting from his red-tinted cheeks. Nearby giggles and whispers from a pair of girls about Rei’s age, interrupted his thoughts of embarrassment. 

“Hey, look at that guy. Why does he have a uniform on?”

“I don’t know, cram school maybe? Or maybe he put it on by accident. Doesn’t he look sorta cute?”

“Hah~? No way! Looks like just another nerd! You really have to get your eyes checked Mayuri. Or wait, don’t tell me that’s your type?” the girl giggled.

Rei snapped his head up towards the voices; his eyes met a flashy looking girl with wine-red hair pulled back into a ponytail standing next to a cute, timid-looking girl with fair strawberry blonde hair that fell on her shoulders in long curls. The shy-looking girl’s face heated up in flustered embarrassment as she started to tremble intensely. 

The other girl proceeded to drag her away saying, “Okay, okay. Time to go before you faint or something.”

The latter didn’t respond as her friend pulled her away. From analyzing the conversation and the girls’ reactions, it was obvious the girl with furious blush must have been the one who called Rei “cute.” He hoped that he hadn’t embarrassed her too much, as a relatively same event had happened to him just moments ago. He figured his face must have been slightly surprised, since he wasn’t really used to compliments—especially from girls. 

The more he thought about what had happened, the redder he became, but that wasn’t important. What was important was: he had his uniform on, and he needed to take it off. Rei dramatically propped up his glasses, reflecting sunlight, “Always be prepared for anything.” He smiled and took out his tracksuit. But how exactly was he going to put it on? 

He could just put the sweater over his uniform. Rei pulled his sweater over the sleeves of his uniform. He zipped it up and to his horror; it looked absolutely horrendous. Rei felt suffocated, and couldn’t help but notice the awkward lumps the uniform created under the sweater. He constantly tried to smooth them down but with no success.

The boy checked his phone; he still had an adequate amount of time to change. But as much as he wanted to, he knew he would most likely get lost and miss the bus. In this huge city, Rei did not trust his sense of direction. So the teen sat painfully at the bench in distress for god knows how long. So not beautiful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well look who finally made their appearance and I swear it gets less boring from here, so don't give up on me just yet  
> (~‾⌣‾)~ thanks again


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so a seiri-ken is basically just the machine you put your money in to pay for the bus ride, and that's about it  
> enjoy ^^

Sooner or later the bus arrived, the blue-head rose from his seat and walked to the bus door. As he walked up the steps, he was hit by a peculiar stench of diesel and burnt rubber. Rei walked down the aisle and took a seat in an empty middle row; finally, some peace and quiet. He closed his eyes and breathed out, then stared out the window. He saw his fatigued face and frowned, recounting all the crazy things that had happened so far. Maybe the city was just not to his befitting Rei pondered. Slowly his breaths evened out and the soft buzz of the bus radiator lulled him to sleep.

~~~~

“Rei-chan! Rei-chan! Please wake up! I’m sorry Rei-chan, I won’t do it ever again! Just please wake up!” Cries of a little boy rang throughout Rei’s head. The voice seemed strangely familiar yet, Rei did not know this person at all. The only thing he could see was pitch-blackness as the pleads continued, becoming farther and farther away. Who was this voice? Do I know him? Did something happen to me?  
“REI-CHAN!”

~~~~

Rei suddenly jerked out of his slumber and gasped for air. He felt cold sweat clinging onto the back of his neck and his hand were shaking uncontrollably; what was happening? He could feel his stomach churning uneasily, an unknown mixed feeling of nostalgia and sadness pierced through him. I must have had a nightmare, he concluded—but about what, he couldn’t say. 

The boy returned to staring out the bus window. Then he was taken surprised by his reflection: tears. He was crying. Rei’s eyes widened with shocked, as even when he was little, he never was so scared by a nightmare that he would begin to cry. After all, he knew the whole process behind them and knew it was just his brain playing tricks on him. But the large lump that resided in his throat told him this was something more than just a chilling nightmare. Quickly, Rei rubbed away the residing tears on his sleeve and hoped hat no one had seen him.

“We’ve arrived in Sakyō-ku,” the bus driver announced on his walkie-talkie, connected to the bus speakers. A couple people began to file out the bus door.

Rei got up and exited the bus, giving the driver a quick “thank you” as he dropped 220 yen from his purple wallet into the seiri-ken to pay for the ride and stepped out onto the concrete. Once he got out, he started to take the route he had planned out and memorized. The teen smoothly walked with full knowledge of what streets to walk on, where to cross, and when to turn which way. If anyone one had seen his short walk, they would’ve thought he’d been there before—indeed, Rei was quite proud of himself. 

For once, he felt in control and it put his mind to ease, which was good because he was starting to feel an aching migraine coming on. In no time flat, the blue-haired boy had arrived at the pathway of the zoo. After his long journey, he felt somewhat excited, as if he had been waiting for this moment his whole life—though it was kind of embarrassing to admit. 

Soon enough, the zoo came into sight—Rei’s jaw dropped. His eyes widened as he realized the zoo had very much failed to meet any of his expectations whatsoever. Rei tightly gripped the straps of his lime-green backpack and bit his lip; he felt so let down and betrayed. The teen felt like the sight of the zoo was a personal offense and he tried not to start screaming. Is this a joke?! What the heck?! Why god, why me? This place isn’t beautiful at all! He thought as he felt his soul escaping.

Okay, calm down Rei. Maybe it won’t be as bad once I get inside; after all, it’s not good to judge a book by its cover right? As the blue-head approached closer, he became more and more worried by the zoo’s appearance—he had spoken too soon. The pavement was horribly cracked with an abundant amount of weeds sticking out of the ground everywhere he looked. What’s more was the ground was completely littered with garbage; the place was a total mess!

“Preposterous!” Rei muttered under his breath as he continued his examination of the disappointing zoo. 

The teen walked up to the entrance and was greeted by a fiercely energetic boy with bright orange hair standing on top of what looked like a podium. He grabbed a mike connected to a few speakers and shouted, “Yo! My name is Momo-kun, if you have problem’s or questions, you can come see me at the visitor’s center—especially all you cute girls!” he winked at a small group girls as they gave him a side ways glance and laughed nervously.

As the overexcited boy continued with his rant, a tiny boy with light grey hair tugged on the other’s shirt and timidly whispered, “M-Momo-kun stop…” Rei walked over to the pair to ask where to buy tickets. He approached as the orange-headed boy spun around, his back facing Rei. 

“Um…Excuse me, but can you please tell me where I buy tickets?” Rei asked. The small coworker of the energetic greeter looked nervous started to shake. It looked like he was trying to tell Rei, but kept stuttering so badly that the directions incomprehensible. The boy was blushing feverishly, making Rei feel bad; he wouldn’t have asked if it were going to give this employee so much trouble. Maybe it’s his first day here… Rei had some jobs, but none were very upfront or social as this one so he understood—he’d be nervous if he was this kid or even more so.

The energetic one who looked like he had way too much coffee, spun around, “Yes? What can I help you with?” His bright small dampened as he flatly commented, “You’re not a cute girl.” Rei pushed up his glasses and was starting to get a bit irritated by the worker.  
“I just need to know, where I buy tickets…”

“Oh! It’s over there!” The latter pointed to a small little booth on the left. Of course! Why didn’t I notice sooner? Rei questioned. But then he realized: the booth had no sign—of course he wouldn’t notice! What kind of…

Rei paced over to the booth, “Excuse me, ticket for one adult.”

“That’ll be 600 yen.” A man with an intimidating expression on his face responded. The worker’s voice was deep and seemed impatient. The blue-head swallowed and took his wallet out, his fingers clumsily grabbed 600 yen out and he shakily slid it under the glass. For a few seconds, Rei could feel the man’s sharp teal eyes on him; he started to sweat. The man sighed, picked the money up, pressed a few buttons on a machine and gave Rei a ticket. The teen thanked the man as he walked away stiffly, hearing the man grumble what sounded like a “enjoy your visit.”

So far, the work force here was a wild roller coaster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜 Yay for more characters! 〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜  
> Happy (almost) New Year for all of you in the US ^~^ hope you have a good one


	5. Chapter 5

Now that Rei was in, he almost forgot his original agenda for the day; this trip was for research purposes only. Though, Rei found it extremely difficult to concentrate with all the obvious non-beautiful flaws in the place. For a Saturday, there weren’t that many people, just mostly young kids with their parents with the exception of a few tiny cluster of teenagers. 

It was very run-down compared to the other zoos he had heard about. Though he really couldn’t complain; their collection of animals was quite impressive. He passed a variety of exhibits from tigers, exotic monkeys, penguins, and even rare breeds of reptiles. It may have been worn down, but it was way bigger than what Rei had anticipated.

One part of the zoo that he had taken a particular liking to was the butterfly garden. Once he walked in, he was taken aback by the stunning mass of colorful butterflies scattered around the room. The place was vivid and beautiful, free of all the city smog. The teen’s eyes filled with adoration and excitement as he observed a group of royal-purple butterflies, their wings decorated with an ornate white pattern. 

“Beautiful!” Rei exclaimed in amazement as he propped his glasses up. The whole zoo should be as beautiful as this! He mused. Unexpectedly, one by one, each of the butterflies flew and latched onto him.

A few people gaped at him while a little girl excitingly squealed, “Mommy, mommy look!” She tugged promptly at her mother’s sleeve as she bounced up and down, “That boy has lots of butterflies on him!” The mom turned and stared at him with the same surprised look that everyone else had on—Rei was starting to get nervous at all of the sudden attention. 

He stood perfectly still when another tiny butterfly landed on the tip of his nose: it was bright yellow with a brilliant magenta border and spots on its wings. The small butterfly kind of reminded him of something, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. 

Suddenly a shy girl’s voice chimed in, “U-um…sir you can’t touch the butterflies!” The butterflies all took off as Rei turned around to face a tiny girl. He was kind of sad to see the beautiful creatures leave, but rules are rules.

“Oh I’m sorry!” The blue-head bowed slightly and looked up.

The girl started to shake sputtering, “Y-y-y-y-you!”

Rei looked at her with confusion, he didn’t know this girl, did he? Then it hit him: she was that girl he saw when he was waiting for the bus. His mind slowly replayed what had transpired and he started to turn as red as her.

He heard footsteps coming from behind him, “Mayuri! Are you okay?! What happened? It looks like you’ve seen a ghost!”

The petit girl whimpered, “G-G-Gou~”

Rei yet again spun around—he was beginning to feel dizzy—to see the same red-head that had been with the other girl who exclaimed, “It’s Ko-oh...” The girl scrunched up her nose, “So that’s why…” she whispered under her breath. 

There was brief moment of silence between the three. Rei saw no way out of this painstakingly awkward situation. He saw the two girls exchange glances until the girl-named-Gou politely said, “Uh, sorry sir. But you’re really not supposed to come in direct contact with the butterflies—it’s against zoo policies…” 

Rei put his hands up, “Actually, they all landed on me.” The girl apparently called “Gou”—though Rei thought that was a guy’s name, but like he could talk, as he had the name of a girl—stared at him in surprise. Then she squinted at him in suspicion and disbelief. The redhead looked at her small friend, “Mayuri”, for confirmation; the latter nodded furiously in response.

“Whoa! That’s totally crazy! I’ve never seen that happen before…” Gou seemed interested, maybe even wanting to see it for herself. But a stern façade soon took over her excited face and she waved her pointer finger back and forth, “however, rules are rules!” 

The blue-head nervously stammered, “Ah, yes. Sorry to trouble you, I won’t let it happen again!” And with that statement, Rei turned to quickly leave. 

“Thanks very much!” the redhead chirped cheerfully and patted him on the shoulders. “SUCH FIRM DELTOIDS!” She exclaimed in a whispered scream, her eyes sparkled. The smaller girl gasped and slapped her hands over her face in a wild blush. 

“I beg your pardon?” Rei questioned.

“Sorry, sorry, it was nothing. Enjoy your time here!” She gave a tiny wave and grabbed her friend’s wrist and tolled her away just like before. And with that awkward experience, Rei quickly exited the garden.


	6. Chapter 6

He looked down at a map he had picked up from the front of the zoo, next stop: marsupials. It was one of the smallest sections of the zoo; it had koalas and two different breeds of kangaroos. They were all tiny, fluffy and “cute” as many of the few girls at the exhibit squealed in delight. Rei supposed they were quite adorable, given their innocent appearance and tiny size. 

While the koalas hid far away from the people watching it, the kangaroos were out and about, the fencing around them no more than three feet—it seemed as if you could just reach out and pet one. Which is exactly why lots of the little kids climbed up on the fencing that separated them from the animals, to get a better view and maybe, have the chance to touch one. They all giggled giddily when one of the kangaroos hopped closer to them.

Rei felt slightly concerned that one of the kids would fall in and hurt themselves or even worse: attacked. But the parents showed no concern, which made him question their parenting skills. I mean sure they’re cute and all, but they are still animals. The thought reminded him of the butterflies that had latched onto him. Though the teen highly doubted the butterflies could do any harm to him. Never had there been on the news: butterfly attacks innocent civilian, kangaroos on the other hand…

“Hey kids! Please get off the railing, you can’t do that!” A sharp, irritated voice from the fence next to where Rei stood pierced through the happy atmosphere of giggling kids. He looked over to see a redheaded man scolding the group of children. He squinted and scrutinized the worker; didn’t he resemble someone?

The children became quiet, a lot of them looked scared, but some looked annoyed. Murmurs fell over the boys and girls, when a cute little girl with pigtails asked, “Mister, why can’t we?” It didn’t seem like a whine, but rather pure curiosity.

“Because it’s dangerous.” The employee responded, his tone seemed to soften a bit, but it was still firm. The little girl nodded in understanding and stepped off of the fence.

Then, a little boy cut in yelling, “Mister Sharkteeth can’t tell us what to do! STUPID!” With that, the bratty child stuck his tongue out at the redhead. Now that Rei took a closer look, the man did seem to have sharpened teeth like an actual shark—what is wrong with this work force?! Rei thought. Indeed, all the employees had behaved very peculiar since he had been there. 

The little boy’s mother softly scolded him, “Satoshi, that’s very rude, say sor—“

The redhead interrupted enraged, “Uh, yes I can, I work here. Also, do you freakin’ want these little guys,” he gestured to the kangaroos, “to knock out your damn teeth?! So go ahead and try to pet one! At least it’ll wipe that smug-ass smile of your face!”

Almost all of the adults gaped at the worker in horror and disgust, quickly covering their child’s ears, some just stared in awe just like the kids—and Rei. How and why was this guy hired?! I mean, this is a people’s service job, how could this guy just outright curse at this little kid, was he crazy?! Don’t they test if their employees can handle people, let alone kids?!

The bespectacled teen answered the question, as he referred back to the small silver-haired boy who was so timid that he couldn’t even give Rei directions to the ticket booth. Not to mention the way-too-hyper announcer person who seemed to only care for “cute girls” and the scary-looking man in the booth who looked like he could mug or even rape a person by just looking at them—okay maybe that was a bit too exaggerated. But nevertheless, these employees were just plain weird. 

The little boy started to wail loudly as his mother glared at the redheaded worker scolding, “shame on you.” All the kids began to leave, their parents hurriedly ushered them away; the redhead had scared away all the people. The short-tempered man let out a frustrated huff, muttering something about how the kid “deserved it”.  
As Rei began to exit the area, he felt kind of nervous walking past the angry and possibly violent employee. So he power-walked hastily past the man, hoping not to be seen. After a few seconds, the blue-head thought he escaped, but once again, he was wrong. 

“Hey!”

Rei froze and slowly faced the man, “Y-yes?” He squeaked accidentally.

The worker gave him a confused look then said, “You dropped your wallet.” Rei’s eyes moved to his light purple wallet in the man’s hand.

“Uh, thanks…” It was slightly embarrassing to take the item back. It looked so girly—he’s had it since he was eight, when his mom gave it to him for Christmas. The high schooler really had to get a new one, but in a way he was very much attached to it, so maybe not. He felt the blood draining form his face as he turned to walk away—he could’ve sworn he heard the worker snicker. Rei swallowed and hastened to the next destination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love how Rin basically told the kids to gtfo, Mr.Shark don't need nobody's sass (= ^ =)/  
> Anyways, hope you liked~


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for Makoto and Haru to shine yay~ *\\(^o^)/*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh god, sorry I haven't updated in so long! I've been hella busy with school and then I got sick. (Apparently I infected like half of the grade because none if them came to school. mwuahaha the plan worked, jk but srsly even one if my teachers. I'm evil.)  
> Okay enough chit chat, here's the chapter  
> hope you like~

Rei groaned--how the hell did he even get here? After walking a while from the wild marsupial exhibit, the pathway split into two parts. He meant to get to the reptile section, but didn't find any signs at the pathways.

How does anyone know where they're going around here?! Rei wondered. He pulled out his map and even that didn't help. While they did label the exhibit, they put the it smack in the middle of the two paths! 

The boy scrutinized every detail of the map in frustration. Underneath the reptile label was "children's zoo." Okay, so the variables are reptiles and the children's zoo... The thing about the two passageways were that they were extremely different from one another. 

The path on the left was a fairly flat road that was somewhat better paved. It was painted a bright pink and was surrounded by an assortment of colorful flowers and plants. On the other hand, the right path was a lengthy uphill trek that was made of some worn down cobble stone. Well this will be easy. Rei thought.

Obviously the one on the right led to the reptiles because 1) the left path seemed to give off the "children's zoo" aura and 2) they wouldn't want one of the little kids to trip and hurt themselves on the right one. And so, The teen started his journey up the pathway, almost scared he would trip himself; some of these cobble stones were not very stable. He was able to climb up somewhat quickly thanks to doing dozens of hill-ups for track.

When Rei finally got to the top he was surprised to find yet another intersection. 

"You have got to be joking." Rei moaned. Unsurprisingly none of paths were marked, not to mention they weren't even on the map. Did I somehow get lost on some hiking trail? he wondered nervously. The boy thought about going back, but since he was already up, he might as well take a chance and see where it leads. 

He decided to not stray from the main path and kept walking down the weary path. The more he walked, the more lost he felt, the foliage of trees began to increase as if he was now in a forest. Rei's stomach began to sink as he continued to walk down the path. 

Eventually he could hear nearby voices and thought maybe he had finally reached his destination. By that time he was slightly sweaty and hoped the hike was worth it. As Rei approached, he could clearly make out what the voices were saying. He only heard one though; this was starting to get weird.

"It sure is quiet around here, right Haru?" 

Silence. 

The same voice softly laughed and said, "You're bored aren't you? Me too." 

Rei gaped in horror; was the man talking to himself?! Oh god what if this lead to some psycho killer axe murderer's house?! Rei thought, starting to panic. Nope. Nope. Nope. Time to go. The boy started walk down the road hastily. But one of the cobble stones wiggled out from under his foot and just like that, he tripped. Rei yelped in pain as he scrapped up his knee and quickly stabilized himself before he died from rolling down the hill. Shoot!

"I-i-is somewhere there?" the voice he had heard before called out; it sounded oddly scared. Don't respond, he could kill you. Don't say anything. Rei bit his lip as blood started to trickle down his leg, his stomach churned; blood was not beautiful at all. 

"Are you okay? It's okay, we're employees of the zoo!"

"Who are you, don't hide." a cold voice said slightly irritated.

"Haru that's rude! What if it was a visitor?" the other voice scolded, but it sounded more like a whine.

"But what if it's not." The cold voice shot back. After came a tiny whimper from the latter.

Rei swallowed and looked up the hill. Could he even trust these people? For all he knew, it could a trick to get him to go up so they could kill him. Maybe I'm just getting paranoid... Rei thought-- the voice did seem quite sincere. Before he could make up his mind whether to go up or run for his life, two men were peering down at him. An abnormally large man had his hands on a smaller man's shoulder as if...hiding behind the other--it all looked strange in itself. 

The two men walked towards Rei. The taller man seemed to pale at the sight of Rei's knee, while the other just stared with a blank expression. 

After the larger seemed regather his wits, "A-are you okay?" he asked.

The blue-haired teen looked at the duo's uniform and name tags: the taller one was named Makoto with sandy brown hair and peridot eyes, and the other was named Haruka-- the "ka" was crossed out but Rei could still make it out--with raven hair and serene blue eyes. The boy breathed out in relief, so they are employees after all...

Rei returned to looking at the pair; at that moment, the silent one shot a weird glance at the other. 

"Obviously?! You're so mean Haru..." the larger man sighed, "I guess your right though." Rei was instantly freaked out, his mind started to race. Maybe these are crazy people after all! What if they killed some employees and stole their uniforms! The bespectacled boy was never one to have such a wild imagination, but the duo of workers was extremely peculiar and frankly, creepy.

"Look, do you need help or not? We have a med kit in the back for your knee." The man named Haru said sharply. Rei was slightly taken aback by the employee's tone, but somehow he didn't feel any hostility or aggression from him, it just seemed like that was the way the man was. 

"Haru stop~ This is the first visitor we've had in almost a week!" 

"I'd much rather be by myself, besides, he's not even a kid. He probably just got lost."

"Alone?! Then where should I go?!"

"You're an exception." 

"Hm, thank you Haru chan," the looked at the latter and smiled brightly--Rei had never seen anyone so happy before--then the man continued, "But that's still not any way to treat a visitor, you know better than that." 

Why is he acting like a mother scolding a child?! Rei thought.

"Aren't you forgetting something Makoto? At this rate, he's going to bleed to death."

The large man gasped and paled with a frightened expression, "Oh my god okay. We're getting you patched up right now sir!" He bent down, offering his hand. As the blue-haired teen was about to take the hand reluctantly, the smaller man grabbed him by the wrist, pulling him up and dragging him into the area that was supposedly the children's zoo. 

When the three got there, Rei found it /was/ a children's zoo. Not only that, it was a pretty /good/ children's zoo. There were a number of petting animals, their fences were straight and painted neatly a nice shade of pastel blue. The floor was nicely paved and was covered with a widespread collection of bright colors. Little doodles of animals were drawn onto the floor with chalk by one of the two men who worked there. 

Rei was taken aback and gaped at that sight of the area that proved to be spick and span. Why was the path like that then?! Didn't the other path match it better?! the teen thought while still trying to make sense of the whacked zoo. 

"Here, sit down, please" the taller employee said lightly as Rei was led to a lime green bench next to group of llamas surrounded by a large fence. He listened to what he was told and plopped down on the bench and observed his knee. It wasn't actually that bad of a cut, but it was hard to tell with the large amount of blood coming out of it. 

The smaller employee with the name tag "Haru(ka)" seemed to have disappeared, but reappeared just as quickly from a small building across from the bench. In the man's hand was a first aid kit. With a straight face, he strode over to Rei, placed the tin box on the floor and swung it open. It made a tiny creaking noise as it opened; all it's contents seemed untouched and perfectly arranged. Obviously, the employee "Makoto" wasn't kidding: no one had been here for a while. 

"Here Haru, I can do it." As Makoto reached down for an antiseptic wipe, Haru lightly swatted his hand away and grabbed a wipe.

"Oh please, you can barely handle seeing blood on screens." 

The latter laughed and responded, "Ah, I guess your right. Thanks Haru." The man smiled warmly at the other. Haru just nodded slightly, it looked like his face was just the tiniest bit red. 

Rei felt completely ignored. Had they forgotten that he was there? He felt as if he were watching a scene out of a romance drama except the actors were two strange men who worked in a zoo. Other people would probably find that comparison amusing, but Rei just found it odd. I guess they're a couple then... the teen inferred as he looked at the pair. 

Just then, he felt a stinging pain on his knee as he let a small yelp escaped his lips. 

"Oh yeah...It'll sting a little." the worker said in a monotone voice.

"Uh, I think you were supposed to say that before Haru!" The other worker cut in.

"Oh well." the man deadpanned, showing no hint of apology. 

"Sorry for that, would you like to hold my hand while he cleans it?" the large employee asked as smiled at Rei.

The bespectacled boy gave an incredulous look, but then realized this was most likely the protocol for injured little kids--though he was none of the sort. Then he noticed a certain pair if sharp blue eyes glaring holes in him. Chills went up his spine as he stuttered a "no thank you" nervously.

The employee returned to cleaning the wound--to which Rei bit his lip--then covered it with two large bandaids: one was blue with green polkadots and the other, purple with pink butterflies. 

"Sorry, we only have these ones. Hope you're not too embarrassed." the brunet employee apologized for the second time. 

Rei pursed his lips then shook his head, "No, it's fine I guess, thank you. I really should go now."

"Okay, no problem, hope you're having a nice visit!" The larger worker gave a large warming smile. Rei felt almost guilty, because honestly: he wasn't. Nonetheless, he returned a somewhat awkward smile and rose from the bench. But he soon remembered why he was there in the first place: he had gotten lost. 

He looked around clueless for a second when the smaller employee said, "Are you lost?"

Rei held his breath for a split second: he had been found out. Though he supposed it wasn't that hard to tell with the look in his face. "Yes, actually. Do you know how to get to the reptile house?"

The raven haired man nodded as the one next to him gave an "Oh! So that's why! I told Momo to fix those signs!"

So they do know about the confusing paths!

"Technically, it's not really Momo's job. It should actually be Nagisa, he's the errand boy."

"Don't call him that. Besides, he's too busy training."

"Yeah well nonetheless, he still has to do his job. When I wanted to become a trainer they turned me down; it's going to be hard."

"No it actually isn't. It's just that you just wanted to swim! You didn't even memorize any facts and just swam and ignored the animals and people. I think you even hit one the otters Haru!"

The other responded with a tiny hmph while Rei waited patiently for the conversation to stop. He had surprisingly gotten used to becoming ignored by the two when they randomly engaged in speech.

"Oh sorry!" the larger seemed to realize Rei's presence was still there," the reptile house is just down that path, be careful there's a lot of loose stones." he pointed to an identical-looking pathway directly across from the path that he had entered from. 

"Yeah, thanks..." Rei answered and started to stride towards the pathway the worker had pointed to and started to make his trek down. It still hurt a little when he bent his knee, but he was fine as long as he didn't fall again. Which he wasn't too sure that he wouldn't but it was now or never. He turned around one last time to see the odd may-be-a-couple pair the taller one waving eagerly and the shorter one just staring. 

Now onto the real reptile house.


End file.
